


Thank you Shakespeare

by Merrinpippy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Euphemisms, Harry being his usual selfless self, Jealous!Harry, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Pre-smut, References to Shakespeare, Tom being his usual intense self, Vigorous Kissing, jealous!Tom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-14
Updated: 2016-11-14
Packaged: 2018-08-31 00:39:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8555851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merrinpippy/pseuds/Merrinpippy
Summary: Harry looked up from his comfortable position in his armchair to find Tom staring at him once again, an indecipherable look on his face. He hoped Tom wasn’t still angry with him, but Tom kept staring at him with that intense look of his, and Harry didn’t know what it meant. So yes. Evenings in the Room of Requirement. With Tom. Who Harry certainly wasn’t harbouring deeper feelings for. At times like these, Harry felt like a damned masochist.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Had no idea what to tag this as, particularly the difference between Teen and Mature. If you think I need to change or add a tag, please tell me.

Harry looked up from his comfortable position in his armchair to find Tom staring at him once again, an indecipherable look on his face.

They spent a lot of their evenings in the Room of Requirement, as neither could enter the other’s common room. The Room itself had subsequently morphed itself into a cosy mixture of the two dorms. Harry felt mildly guilty for not spending quite as much time with Ron and Hermione, but he saw them every day and they insisted they understood, though neither were truly comfortable with Tom yet. Privately he thought they could use the time without him to finally come to terms with their less-than-platonic feelings for one another. When Harry mentioned this to Tom, Tom snorted and then tripped Hermione into Ron’s arms the first opportunity he got. It was endlessly amusing to Harry, but unfortunately (and not so surprisingly) the flushes on his friends’ faces weren’t enough to clue each other in, so they were still dancing around each other.

So yes. Evenings in the Room of Requirement. With Tom. Who Harry certainly wasn’t harbouring deeper feelings for.

And Harry never got jealous when a girl flirted with Tom or even was so bold as to ask him out- though he always turned them down rather painfully.

Okay, Harry never said he was here for selfless reasons, though sometimes he felt like a damned masochist when he spent so much time around Tom, able to talk and touch but never enough, and never in that way…

He felt like that now, but for a different reason. They’d had a fight earlier which, while not unusual, left a certain tension in the room even after they’d made up and apologised (and Tom apologising to him always floored Harry because he knew Tom only did that when he was genuine, and even then it was rare because of his pride). Harry hoped Tom wasn’t still angry with him, but Tom kept staring at him with that intense look of his, and Harry didn’t know what it meant.

He wasn’t angry at Tom anymore, though. Truthfully, he had been _extremely_ jealous earlier when Daphne Greengrass had asked Tom out and Tom had… taken more time than usual to say no. To Harry, that was almost as painful as Tom saying yes.

And Daphne _knew,_ of course she did, she’d smirked at Harry before she’d spoken the words and placed her hand on Tom’s chest while looking Harry in the eye and of course Harry had left. He couldn’t watch that. Ron and Hermione understood; Luna offered him cryptic words of comfort; Ginny rolled her eyes at him and told him to just kiss Tom already.

But it wasn’t that simple. Tom was… an enigma. While Harry knew him better than anyone, he couldn’t say he knew how Tom felt about love. How Tom felt about him. They were inseparable most of the time, but for Tom that could mean anything from ‘head over heels in love’ to ‘keeping his enemies closer’.

How Harry wished it was the former.

They had fought some time after Harry had left- Tom was angry that Harry had left him to ‘fight off Greengrass alone’ and _then_ when Harry mentioned spending time with Ginny, Tom practically grew an extra head. Harry still hadn’t figured out why; the lovesick part of his mind whispered _jealous_ but the sane part of his mind whispered _possessive, hypocritical arsehole._

And Tom was staring at him, and Harry really hoped that there was nothing on his face to give his thoughts away. Harry cleared his throat and sat up from where he was currently draped the wrong way across the armchair, letting go of the snitch he’d been playing with and ignoring it zooming around the room.

Tom, too, gave up the pretense of reading the book in his hands, setting it down on the floor without once tearing his eyes from Harry’s.

“Sickle for your thoughts?”

Tom huffed, pretending to be offended. “My thoughts are worth much more than a _sickle_ , Harry,” he chided. Harry shrugged but didn’t say anything else, waiting for Tom to speak what was on his mind. After a moment of silence, he did; “In the words of Shakespeare, ‘if I knew what hoop should hold us staunch from edge to edge o’th’world, I would pursue it.’”

Harry’s eyebrows raised of their own accord, surprised. “You read muggle literature?”

Tom waved his hand in the air carelessly. “We had to write an essay about how badly he portrayed witches once, and I went a bit overboard on my research- but that’s besides the point.”

The point? “I’m afraid your Shakespeare references are going to go over my head,” Harry said, leaning back in his seat. “They didn’t teach us about him in primary school.” And even if they did, Harry wouldn’t have made an effort to learn it, too busy keeping his grades below Dudley’s. He didn’t say this, of course. Tom knew he hated the Dursleys, but he didn’t know the extent, nor why. If Tom assumed anything, he kept quiet about it.

Tom relaxed slightly too, giving Harry a smirk. “That particular quote was from Antony and Cleopatra. The hoop being referred to is actually marriage, but I imagine if I bent down on one knee you’d sooner execute me than say yes.”

Harry froze, but the words were out of his mouth before he could stop them, an automatic reflex from being too used to Tom’s banter. “There are more interesting things to do on your knees than die or propose.”

Tom’s smirk widened into an amused grin, delighted. “If I’d known that Shakespeare was the way to get you to let me suck your cock, I would have quoted him a lot sooner.”

Harry couldn’t take this. At the word ‘cock’, a jolt went through him that he hoped Tom didn’t notice. Tom didn’t know what he did to Harry, and yes, Harry was feeling very masochistic now. “And here I thought we were searching for a metaphorical hoop,” Harry finally replied, his voice slightly strained.

Tom nodded, the perfect picture of innocence to anyone but Harry. “Friends with benefits is a perfectly acceptable hoop. If _Ginny_ doesn’t mind, of course,” he sneered.

Disappointment and elation warred within Harry, two contrasting emotions born from the same word. “Is that what we are? Friends?” Harry should be happy that Tom considered him a friend- Tom’s only real friend, in fact- but he couldn’t stop himself from wanting _more_ from Tom, more than friendship, more than _friends with benefits._ Tom could say ‘cock’ all he liked, but it didn’t stop his words from simply being jokes.

Tom watched Harry curiously, leaning his elbows on his knees in a way that made his shirt tighten and strain around his torso, and _Merlin_ Harry was so screwed. “Is friend not the correct term?” Tom was saying. “A person with whom one has a bond of mutual affection?”

“Is that a _dictionary definition_?!” Harry said incredulously, suddenly on his feet. He tried to make the movement casual by leaning against the arm of the chair. He left unsaid: Is that what I am to you? A dictionary definition?

Tom’s eye was scrutinising now. He stood slowly, stepping towards Harry with purpose. “Perhaps. You didn’t answer my question.”

A certain defiance clambered to the surface in Harry, a welcome distraction from, well, all of the other emotions. Two could play at that game, and Harry lifted his chin, staring Tom down. “You didn’t answer mine.”

Tom’s eyebrow raised, and a predatory glint found its way into Tom’s gorgeous dark eyes. “Friends…” Tom purred, and oh Merlin please don’t let him _know_. “... Interesting that you commented on that but not-”

_Friends with benefits._

Yes, Harry was screwed. He quickly turned, putting the armchair between himself and Tom, feeling like a trapped animal. Harry’s voice was almost pleading as he backed towards the door. “No- let's not ruin us, Tom, we’re already fighting half the time! Just- just ignore me. I’ll see you later-”

Tom was unamused, and he advanced on Harry still, a hunger in his eyes that weakened Harry’s ability to function though he was _sure_ it wasn’t the kind of hunger Harry wanted.

“I’m not done with you.”

“I don’t actually give a damn!” Harry replied, twisting the handle, but the door slammed closed as soon as Harry had opened it. When he turned around Tom had his wand pointing at him, but the wand was then pocketed immediately. He thought he saw a flash of hurt, a split second of indecision on Tom’s face, but it was gone as soon as it had come and Tom was now in his space. Tom bracketed Harry’s body against the door with his arms, and Harry was desperate. “Tom. Please.”

However, Tom was unrelenting. “What could possibly ‘ruin us’, as you put it?”

Harry swallowed, and Tom’s gaze followed the movement. Heat bloomed in Harry’s stomach, and _no, not now, not while Tom was this close!_ Somehow finding his voice under Tom’s heated scrutiny, Harry managed to grit out, “Drop. It.”

Tom did not. He reached up a long-fingered hand and brushed Harry’s cheek. “You’re shaking.”

Harry was. “If you’d just give me a little space-”

Tom pressed closer. “But I like you quivering beneath me… though I would prefer it in _other_ circumstances.”

Harry’s heart all but gave out on him then and there. “Tom?”

Tom bent his head to nuzzle at Harry’s jaw, and he had to put a stop to this _now_ or someone would be getting hurt and it would most certainly be Harry. “Tom, I-I’m not interested in friends with benefits-” and then Harry flushed, hard, because he had all but admitted that he had feelings for Tom, but Tom only nodded.

“Good.” Tom lifted his head again to look Harry in the eye, the heat still there but coupled with something more. “Is this what you want?” he whispered. “Because it’s what I want. If you think this will ruin us, let us be ruined. It’s worth it… it’s worth you.”

Harry didn’t protest when Tom captured his lips in a searing kiss, overcome with _holy shit did he just say what I think he said_ and the heat of Tom’s mouth was overpoweringly good. There was a gentleness he didn’t expect, but that didn’t stop Tom from completely dominating him, pressing against Harry like waves against a cliff and watching Harry crumble beneath him.

Tom’s fingers wound into his hair, tugging and making Harry bite back a whine and subsequently bringing teeth into the kiss. Harry clutched at Tom’s waist, the fabric of his shirt wrinkling beneath his hands. Tom licked and sucked and it was so good and so- _desperate._ Tom was kissing him with the intensity, the sheer _need_ of a starving man given a feast, and the realisation made Harry’s knees buckle with its enormity.

Tom caught him immediately, without even breaking the kiss, but removing his hands from Harry’s hair to pick him up by the legs and wrap Harry’s legs around his waist. Harry’s own hands wandered up aimlessly, eventually caressing Tom’s throat, and Tom actually pulled back to _moan._

There was something about seeing Tom with his guard down, on his way to absolutely losing it, that drew an emphatic “ _Fuck_ ,” from Harry, who stared at Tom’s sensually dishevelled visage.

“Even the crudest profanities sound so sweet on your lips,” Tom breathed. Harry leaned forward again, very aware of Tom’s eyes snapping open to watch him before he started to suck on Tom’s bottom lip. And then Tom reacted.

Harry was once again pressed back against the door, and Tom wasted no time using his tongue to drive Harry insane. Harry would have been embarrassed by the whimpering sound he made except it made Tom’s eyes darken with lust. Tom whispered Harry’s name like a prayer though he was sure Tom had never prayed before, and Harry wished he could be the deity to grant Tom everything he ever wanted-

“If I have you, I’ll count myself truly blessed,” Tom said, and oh Merlin he’d said that out loud, and Tom laughed.

Tom really was the most beautiful being Harry had ever seen.

Harry let his head fall to Tom’s shoulder as Tom carried him back to their seats in front of the fireplace. He was pulled down onto Tom’s lap, strong arms holding him both a cage and a shield. Harry whispered Tom’s name; Tom’s arms tightened around him, pulling him ever closer so that Tom could mouth at Harry’s neck.

Harry was actually quite surprised that he found the voice to speak and only sounded a little out of control. Tom knew better, though; _Every part_ of Harry was flush against Tom’s own body.

“So- so is this the hoop you were talking about?” Harry said, aiming at casual even while Tom was doing _sinful_ things to Harry’s neck.

Tom tilted his head to the side, whispering huskily into Harry’s ear, making Harry shiver. “I can still kneel down and propose, if you’d prefer.”

Harry pushed himself up in order to look Tom in the eye. “Again, not quite the image that comes to mind when I think of you on your knees...”

With a growl, Tom had stood, taking Harry with him until Harry was deposited on the armchair alone. Tom himself knelt at his feet with no hesitation, whispering “Thank you Shakespeare,” under his breath.

Harry rearranged himself on the chair, spreading his legs and reaching for his zipper.

Tom didn’t need any more encouragement than that.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed. Feel free to comment or find me on tumblr @arrowgays! I'm happy to fulfill requests or answer questions about this or my [WIP](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8132777/chapters/18642878). :)


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